Wednesday, June 17, 2009

6.15.09 - BARRACUDA Report - LOLOh and some mahi too.

by Robin

Well folks, it is June and with June means hot weather and hotter water. It's time to break out the downrigger to reach fish in mid-column. This past Monday, Jack and I had big hopes of slaying the dolphin and taking home as much fish as we could legally do for the summer. It felt a bit like our last chance at the dolphin run. Due to the economy and circumstances of life, we will be on a offshore-fishing furlough until things pick back up. We're very grateful for the great spring run of fish we were able to freeze back.

We got 3/4th of the way to the port and realized we had forgotten our rigged ballyhoo at home in the frig. It set us back 40 minutes. We missed the sunrise ON the water, but still saw it at the docks as we put the boat in. We zoomed due east 'til we hit 215 ft of water, approx 27 miles offshore. It was crazy. Waves were 2-3 ft with shorter intervals than we wanted. We want chop but this was so choppy that we couldn't make heads-or-tails of any rips or color changes in the water. We were blind trolling. Also, we only saw 1 flying fish on the entire ride out. Not good. One cool thing though was the youngest son & I were able to enjoy the whole ride out on the front seat of the boat. There was a LOT of haze in the sky.

So we begin trolling back west to avoid the Gulfstream until we came across a bite or bait fish. Something. Anything to give us a hint from the water on where the fish may be. Our first hits of the day was a school of kingfish way too far out deep. It should have been our first sign of the day to come. Mine was a little one which I released pressure boatside and he swam away. Jack had another one but he got off quickly as he charged the boat. 0 for 2. Two chewed up ballyhoos.

We set up for trolling again, noticing that all the bait pods were balled up about 100 ft down. We got 2 more knock-downs, separately, in 148-150 ft of water. A 11.5 lb mahi bull caught by Jack and a 24" peanut mahi cow by my son.

Those were caught by 9am or so and as the seas calmed down from the heat of the day, we only were blind-sided by bait-slashers or released barracudas. We worked really hard for the two fish in the cooler and tried our best for a 3rd but it just was not in God's will.

(See the spots on the barracuda - also nicknamed the spotted 'hoo or spotted Wahoo)

This one had more spots. He was much bigger also. I was so hoping this one was a Wahoo we we first saw silver from a distance.

We circled 148-150ft for another hour or so, but then moved west looking for even a kingfish or small dolphin to bite and be added to the ice box. Nope, nothing, nada.

We did see some more flying fish rise to the surface and fly but they were not followed by the gamefish. I spotted many, many turtles again. It seems to be quite the year for turtles. I also saw a school of barracuda look up at our passing boat. Strange.

Eventually, we pulled lines and decided to head in early and not waste gas. Along the way, we stopped to see a school of bonito crashing some bait. Bonito are in the tuna family but not good eating. They also are very skittish and so we stopped quite a ways away to even capture a few good pics of them working the surface.

The red arrow is pointing to the couple of baitfish that were being attacked. I never got a great pictures of a bonito surfacing.

On my last picture, we heard thunder from a distance. We put up our eisenglas windows on the boat and secure our gear. We were fortunate to not see any lightening and only have light rain as we approached Port Canaveral and the docks to load the boat up on the trailer. In fact, the sun even came out once we were back on dry ground. Funny Florida weather.

Raindrops on the green port water.

We were back home by 3pm and able to clean-up gear & filet fish quickly. We took a few drive-way shots for your viewing pleasure. LOL. These fish were so blue from this angle.

Here's my guys with their fish.

Now, it is off to work for Jack. And I will begin a more structured schooling during the summer heat. I have endless photos that I never posted yet and will make them available with stories and info as time permits.